Burial-casket



(No Modsl.)

J. P. HILL.

BURIAI. GASKET. No. 534,046. Patented Feb. 12, 1895.

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' UNITED- STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JULIAN P. HILL, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

BU RlAL-CASKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 534,046, dated February12, 1 895.

Application filed February 6,1894- Serial No,- 499,239. (No model.) i

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JULIAN P. HILL, a citizen of the United States,residing in Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Sanitary Burial-Caskets,of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce a sanitary burial casket,constructed of glass, that can be cheaply and readily made and that willbe almost indestructible. Such a casket will be perfectly air tight,from which the oxygen may be easily exhausted or neutralized orsubstituted by another gas so that a corpse may be placed therein and bepreserved for a long time without perceptible change, and be transportedfrom place to place without the danger of contagious or infectiousdiseases being transmitted from such a corpse to the living, all ofwhich will be fully and clearly hereinafter described and claimed,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1, isa top or plan view of the casket complete. Fig. 2, represents a verticallongitudinal section through the casket in or about line a a, Fig. 1.Fig. 3, is afront end view of the same, showing the cover andillustrating its mode of attachment. Fig. 4, represents the foot or endview of the casket. Fig. 5, is a front or head-end view, the cover beingremoved so as to show the construction of the removable holdingcross-brace.

Referring to the accompanying drawings the body of the casket ispreferably constructed entirely of glass of a semi-circular form at thetop 1, with slightly curved sides and bottom, see Figs. 3, 4, and 5where the form of the sides are shown by the numerals 2, 2 and 3, theobject being to give it sufficient strength to resist the pressure ofthe atmosphere when the air is exhausted.

At the head of the casket there is a circular. tapering opening 4, aslarge as it is possible to make it, consistent with the requiredstrength, surrounding the opening 4. On the inside of the casket is aflange 5, and slightly beyond the flange are two inwardly projectinglugs 6, placed directly opposite each other or substantially so. Thelugs 6, project inward from the interior surface of the casket about onehalf of an'inch more or less. Their object will appear farther on.

7 represents a removable holding bar frame. It is formed with a centralportion, 8, and two outwardly projecting arms 9 on eachside, each ofwhich is connected by a curved bar 10, shown by dotted lines in Fig. 5.The curved portionslO, are each provided with a small opening 11. To putthis holding bar in place all that is necessary is to put it through theopening 4, or turning it so its narrow sides pass in, when it is turnedso that the ends can be brought in a posit-ion directly opposite thelugs 6. It is now brought forward until the ends or curved portions 10,rest against the flange 5, and may then be dropped downwardsubstantially as shown in Fig. 5, in which position it is securely heldin place so that the cover can be put on.

The cover 12, is, preferably, also made of glass and is provided with acentral knob 13, and surrounding the knob 13, is a series of smallerknobs or projections 14. The object of the knob 13 and projections 14,is to aiford the means for putting on the cover. In the inner side ofthe cover is a screw bolt, 15. This bolt is secured in placesubstantially as shown in Fig. 2, by molding it in its place While theglass cover is being made, or it may be secured in afterward by means ofany Well known cement, in the usual way. bolt being secured rigidly tothe cover as truly in the center as possible, it is adapted to screwinto the hole 16, (which is provided with a corresponding screw threadadapted to receive the bolt.) This cover is ground taper ing and so asto truly fit the tapering opening 4, so that when put on in place itfits perfectly air tight. To put this cover on, all that is required isto enter the point of the screw bolt into the hole 16, and then turn thecover until it is drawn by the screw closely in place.

To facilitate the drawing of the cover closely in place a bar 17,covered with felt or velvet or other like material may be used, oneportion resting on the knob 13, and the end against one of theprojections 14, so it can be used as a lever, substantially as shown bythe dotted lines, 17, in Fig. 3, where this is illustrated.

I have described this casket as being constructed of glass, but it maybe made of The metal with a plate glass in the top but I prefer theglass as above described, because it is a more lasting material and isentirely transparent.

There can be no emanations arising from a corpse put into this casketand it will be found very useful in morgues as the remains may be keptin perfect preservation without the aid of ice and can be viewed foridentification without exposing, the remains to the air and without anydanger if death was caused by a contagious disease of any kind.

I11 using this casket the corpse is put in feet first through theopening 4, being first laid on a covered board adapted for the purposeby being made hollow or curved transversely, so as to conform as nearlyas possible to the form of the opening through which it is passed.

The handles 18 may be. made in any well known way and securedto holdingpieces 20, (see Fig. 1) which may be made to partly or wholly surroundthe casket.

I claim as my invention- A burial casket,having a circular taperingopening in the head through which to enter the corpse, a removable crossbar adapted to rest against a flange inside of the casket, a coverhaving a rim corresponding to the tapering opening, and having a centralscrew bolt adapted to screw into a central opening in the removablecross-bar, and means for turning the cover and thereby secure it rigidlyin place substantially as described.

JULIAN P. HILL.

Witnesses:

HENRY W. HILL, J. M. CALDWELL.

